2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Answer:

If we were not familiar with certain Biblical concepts, we might think of the “man of sin” as a literal being, as some wicked person, but it is the false religious system, just as the “man of God” is the true Church, a collective body made up of component parts, or “joints.” The ideal is the picture of Jesus as the Head and the Church as the body parts. Similarly, the man of sin is an organization with a person as the head and the corresponding component parts of the Antichrist system as the body. The man of God is The Christ, The Elijah, with Jesus as Head. The man of sin is the Antichrist, a religious system, with Satan as its head. As the head of the man-of-sin system, Satan works through this system, whereas Jesus, the Head of the man of God, works through the ecclesia or congregation.

“Let no man deceive you by any means [as listed in verse 2: spirit, word, or letter]: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” Even if a spirit being should come visibly, the brethren were not to believe it was Jesus, for the day of his (Parousia) presence would not come until, first, a falling away from the faith occurred and the man of sin was revealed. Although Paul could not give details, his mention of the apostasy was a hint of what had to take place; namely, the man of sin had to come and be revealed before Jesus could be present (Parousia--the first stage of his coming). A great deception would precede even the beginning of the Day of Christ.

The “man of sin” is called the “son of perdition” because the system is going into everlasting destruction, never to rise again. Stated another way, under the symbol of “the beast,” the system will be “cast alive” into the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 19:20). The deception at the end of the Millennium will not be along religious lines.

The natural mind thinks of the man of sin as a literal individual, a literal man—something like Judas, who was also called the “son of perdition” (John 17:12). The word “perdition” means everlastingly lost.